Beware, I'm a bit Creative.

Coaching

I was recently quizzed by someone who happens consider me as their mentor.

He has recently been promoted and now handles a whole lot of people who aren’t entry level and been there in the organization for a while and he seemed to have gotten tired already of repeating instructions to folks and more with the frequency.

Here is what came to my mind:

Do you have an electric bore well and a over head tank in your house?

He was a little reluctant, considering the fact I sounded croaky as I just woke up from sleep.

I asked again, if he has an electric bore well and a over head tank in your house? He said yes, he does.

I was thankful, the analogy that came to mind could be well related.

We all hopefully would have experienced using a bore well and a over head tank to suck water deep from the earth and store in the over head / underground tanks for daily usage.

During the initial few days, we go through the change of using a new equipment and are bound to not know the consumption.

As we get used to the usage of the facility, we tend to understand the dynamics of how many minutes to use the borewell to fill the tank, how often to use to ensure constant availability of water.

Such is the case while mentoring / coaching someone, iteration & reiteration is essential.

Two questions were answered here…

1. Why should I repeat and remind someone of their responsiblity?

Would like to relate to the change management theory – Four rooms of Change by Ph.D. Claes Janssen.

As we know change is constant and during change there is always switching of one state to another involved.

Every individual during a coaching goes through change, and as a coach / mentor it’s one’s responsibility to remind and iterate the responsibility of the individual.

2. When and how to know how often to reiterate?

Its been observed and proved that higher the inspirational and renewal frequency, lower the chances of an individual going into denial or confused state.

Hence it is essential to understand the individual’s requirement and cater accordingly.

It was indeed great pondering over his question and helping the cause.